Belgian prison staff across the country will go on a 24-hour strike, starting from 22:00 on 10 January, in protest at the unchanged and "frustrating" pay scale, which is ongoing despite weekly negotiations between unions and the Federal Government.
On 9 November, during the nationwide day of strike actions, various trade unions representing public sector workers filed a strike notice, which would see prison staff go on strike in early January.
The ACOD, ACV Public Services and VSOA unions, who filed the notice which targeted Petra De Sutter, the Federal Minister for Civil Service, have now confirmed that a 24-hour strike will take place in all Belgian prisons, which will start at 22:00 on 10 January. This follows a previous prison strike in late November.
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When asked why prison staff were once again going on strike, Grégory Wallez, the federal secretary of the VSOA union, laid bare their frustrations with the lack of salary agreement. This is despite "us calling for an urgent revaluation of salaries and a proper end-of-year bonus for the lowest salaries in the public services."
In fact, unions had been meeting every Wednesday with various political parties, including those in the Federal Government, to find a solution. However, "we have still not been heard," says Wallez who added that the government had told them that "they have no mandate to negotiate a budget, which makes us feel as if our demands have been rejected twice."
